Black Widow and Hulk
by lilywood16
Summary: What will it take to bring Bruce back to Natasha? Short, cute and fluffy. Also probably OOC.


He saw her face up on the monitor, and he knew, he couldn't, because he couldn't bear to let her get hurt. He couldn't because he knew, he would never be able to do it, to fight if he knew she was there. He would never be able to focus fully on anything, but her, and he knew she would never be safe. He lumbered forward, and in that moment he was more Bruce than hulk. Hulk wanted her, wanted to go back to her.  
"We can't track you in stealth mode…" And he knew this was his only chance. He shut the connection down, and he kept going forward, leaving her behind.

Natasha surveyed the new recruits standing before her and the Captain, some looked promising,but she knew it wouldn't be the same as their old team. She knew that none of them were coming back. Clint had his own life, and Tony was, well, Tony Stark was better left unexplained. Thor was back in Asgard solving his own dilemmas, and that left Bruce. Her Bruce wasn't coming back either. He'd taken the first chance, and he'd left. Part of her didn't understand, he'd left her behind, but the other part, the part that made her the best assassin, understood perfectly. He didn't want her. Or maybe he did. Either way, she was a liability to him. They could never be what she hoped for, and she knew it was best she stop trying, but it hurt. He had hurt her, not with weapons or words, but by his actions.

 _"Are you out of your mind?"_  
 _"I want you to understand that I'm…"_  
 _"Natasha,where can I go? Where in the world am I not a threat?"_  
 _"You're not a threat to me."_  
 _"You sure? Even if I didn't just...You have no future with me. I can't ever…I can't have this… kids. Do the math, I physically can't."_  
 _"Neither can I._  
 _In the red room-where I was trained-where I was raised... they have a graduation ceremony. They sterilize you. It's efficient, one less thing to worry about-the one thing that might matter more than a mission. Makes everything easier, even killing._  
 _You still think you're the only monster on the team?"_  
 _"So we disappear?"_

He woke up panting, and desperately tried to calm himself down. He had to stay human. If he became Hulk now, he would not be able to stop himself, he would go back for her. It was the only thing he disagreed on with his other self. If he wanted her to stay safe, he had to stay away from her, he could not let himself be vulnerable and she was his weakness. He had left her two months ago, and already he was growing desperate to see her. He knew part of it was the monster in him, but the other part was his human mind, missing what he loved.  
He'd established himself in the middle of nowhere and had built himself a home. He had scavenged what he needed to make his home livable, to be able to monitor the world outside enough to learn about her. He made sure he was untraceable, that no one, not even his own team could find him. He hid away, keeping himself from people that if he lost control, would be the first to feel his anger. This isolation was the answer to that question he'd asked her.  
 _"Where in the world am I not a threat?"_  
But this was also his prison. He kept himself here, kept himself contained, but each day it was getting harder and harder to control it, to control the urge to contact her, to simply call her, or if the Hulk had his way, to bring her here, with him, back to his own home. She would be safe here, with him, until she had to leave, and the he would go too. He knew if he got too close, he wouldn't be able to bring himself to leave her, and so he stayed.

At five months, the new team was looking much better. They had come a long way from where they'd started. It hadn't been easy, but much like the Avengers had learned, you either became a team, or you lost a lot. She and the Captain still headed up the team, but they relied on everyone just as much as they had the old team. They fought the battles they needed to, and they moved on. They survived and went home, they trained and fought another battle. But she was not a soldier. She couldn't do this, not like she used to. It had been one thing to fight with her friends, people she had trusted, cared for, lived with, and for some, even loved. These Avengers were good people, and she trusted them, but they weren't her friends, not like the others had been. She began to sit out missions. They didn't need her, not really, this team was good without her. She took time off to visit Barton. It was nice to see him. To see his kids, but it was also painful. She stayed in the room they had stayed in. She remembered what she'd said. She'd trusted him, told him something she'd never told anyone before. She had realized in that moment that he didn't know that he was never the only monster. The difference between them, was he was a monster that could be forgiven his crimes. She could never wash the blood from her hands. She was an entirely different kind of monster, one of her own making.  
She left the farm and came back to a state of emergency. She left to assist with a mission gone bad. The Captain was on another mission, so she was on her own with the others. She realized too late, it was a trap.

"Call the others. Nat's in trouble."  
The Captain was furious, he got ahold of Tony and Barton, and finally got through to Thor. They had almost everyone, everyone but Bruce. Tony had a way to fix that.  
"Radio signal, he'll understand. Internal loop, repeat the message."

Something was wrong, terribly wrong. He could feel it, but he didn't realize how bad it was going to get until he heard her name. His heart stopped and his blood when cold. And suddenly he was outside and tearing through he trees, not as a man, but as a Hulk. He was running faster and faster, but he had to stop. He couldn't. He calmed himself enough to tranquilize himself and get a boat to America. From there, he stopped trying. He ran the entire way to the new headquarters, not as Bruce, but as Hulk.

They heard him long before they saw him. He was a monster, all he felt was overpowering, overprotective rage. He cornered the men he fought with, angry and growling.  
"WHERE IS MINE SHE?!"  
"Mine?" Barton asked, confused  
"MINE!" He roared at them. "WHERE IS MINE SHE?!"  
"We need you to help us figure that out, we need Banner." All that got them was more roaring. Tony was grumbling to himself, this was going to be a lot more difficult than they thought.  
"Why is she his?"Thor asked.  
"He's in love with her." Both Tony and the Steve stated.  
"And she loves him. It's why she was so messed up when he left." Barton stated, coming to the conclusion quickly.  
"How the hell are we supposed to find her without Banner?"  
"We're not. You need to calm him down, get him to see reason, or we will never find Natasha." Fury said calmly, startling all of them. "Now what can we do to help?"  
It took hours to calm him down for him to change back into Banner. Banner was barely holding onto his control, barely. There was an ever present hint of green in his eyes, and that was enough to keep the team from doing anything to set him off. Banner and Tony both were working a mile a second, searching faster than any other computer system on earth. The Vision was helping as well, searching everywhere they could not. He startled them.  
"She's escaped." He said, and Banner turned to look.  
"Where?"  
"I know not. She has escaped, she is lost, but she is safe. There appear to be no nearby people or structures. She is at home."  
"Home? There are people everywhere here, and this place is huge."  
"No, no, no. She is at home? He means she feels safe where she is. It doesn't need to be here. It could be where someone she trusts lives. That does rule out a few people. She obviously isn't here, or in New York, and I highly doubt she's managed to traverse the stars."  
"I'll call Laura." Clint muttered. He returned, looking grim. Banner looked up, understanding for the first time.  
"I know where she is."  
All of them were grumpy, they'd been trekking through the jungle for hours, Bruce looked the grumpiest, so the second someone shot at them, he shifted forms. After that they abandoned all attempts at sneaking. A good number of people lay injured or dying in the jungle, but they finally reached the house. More soldiers were there shooting. The Hulk roared and then everyone was fighting. He was the first one inside, the first to see her. She was propped up at the end of his bed, a gun over her thighs. She was hurt obviously or she'd have shot him. Hulk wouldn't have even cared, because it was her. Banner loved her, so Hulk loved her, either way, he trusted her enough to know she would never intentionally try and shoot him. He moved closer and her eyes opened slightly.  
"Hey Big Guy…" She whispered, before she coughed violently. Her hand was red with blood when it came away from her mouth. Hulk scooped her up, holding her gently, but securely against his chest. She was hurt, she had to get help. Everything had narrowed to her. Anything else was unimportant, everything else was nonexistent. He ran back, the others were trying to catch up.  
"Does anyone have eyes on Hulk? Does he have Nat?"  
"I got him, we're good to go." They arrived just as he did, and watched him lumber into the ship and sit down hard. He had Nat cradled close to his body, protective of her. Barton took off, going as fast as he dared back to base. It was difficult to make Hulk let go of Natasha, but he did eventually. He was there the entire time though, he didn't trust her with anyone. He paced the length of the room where she now lay, resting. Naturally he was the first thing she saw when she woke up. He was sitting next to her, watching her sleep.  
"Hey Big Guy." He reached to touch her hair, seeming oddly calm despite being the Hulk. She wasn't awake long. The Hulk left, he had to, the others had forced him outside, forced him to back off.

She woke in a hospital bed, and immediately swung her legs over the side, and yanked out IVs and other wires. She hated hospitals, she hated being seen as weak. Barton was the first person she saw. She'd already been forced into wearing a sweater, which she wasn't particularly fond of. She met with the others, and they explained what had happened.  
"How long has he been Hulk?"  
"Days." The Captain answered. She nodded and headed for the door. The moment she stepped outside, he stopped. He turned slowly as she walked across the grass towards him. She stopped and he stared at her. She held her hand out to him. He didn't take it. He picked her up, sitting heavily, and proceeded to just hold onto her. His form began to slip and he was soon Banner again, but she didn't move from her spot on his lap. She held him too, arms tight around his neck. He didn't notice he'd gone back to himself, didn't care. She was back with him, where she belonged, and this time, he wasn't letting go, he wasn't running without her.


End file.
